Ceaserstone Primordia

mattgod69

Hi, I hope you are all safe and well

I have just had the above kitchen quartz worktop installed in my property.  The worktop is frankly not what I was expecting and has a lot of dark brown 'rust' looking sections.  In some places it looks worse in others but it was just simply not what we were expecting based on the sample viewed.  It looks like it is stained and dirty.

The sample I saw in the supplier had no such brown visible in the sample (albeit the sample was small) and I have looked at a further sample in another showroom which looks same as the sample originally saw.  I have seen the worktop in a kitchen showroom which also appears to not have the dark brown, or at least not so much of it.  I am going to back to have another look at that installation at the end of the week.

On the manufacturers website, there is some minor brown staining shown on their sample, and if you look at pictures online, some kitchens seem to be worse and others appear to be better.  The worktop is basically mimicking concrete and is described on the website as 'Light concrete coloured base with mineral splotches of off-whites and veils of greys, reflecting oxidized rusts and washed tones with additional traces of faint yellow and washed green'.

Unfortunately, I was not given the opportunity by the supplier of viewing the slab before it was cut.  Had I seen the slab, I may have chosen against this product and chosen alternative slab (albeit they would have been a likely restocking charge).  The flipside course is that I may have still chosen to go with it.

The representative of the company has kindly come along and told me that the worktop is as it is intended although there are also a couple of minor defects including what looks like a staple in the worktop.  I was told that this could be sorted out by their technicians.

I am at a loss where to go from here.  I really didn't want to upset the supplier because he has really done nothing wrong other than not let me look at the slab before it was cut, but on the same token, I do not feel I can live with this which has cost several thousand pounds.

If anybody has this worktop installed it would be great to give me your comment and even some pictures.

It is of course possible I will have to accept it and live with it but it is a great shame as it is frankly ruining the whole experience in project for me!

Any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated as always.

Matt

eskbanker

mattgod69 said:

Unfortunately, I was not given the opportunity by the supplier of viewing the slab before it was cut.

Did you ask?

Okell

Can we see a photo of what your worktop looks like?

I suspect they'll say it's natural variation in the material.  They'll probably also claim it's a unique and attractive idiosyncratic feature of the material..


as per @eskbanker, did you ask to see it to give prior approval?  Would they have allowed you to do so anyway?

mattgod69

eskbanker said:

mattgod69 said:

Unfortunately, I was not given the opportunity by the supplier of viewing the slab before it was cut.

Did you ask?

no... unfortunately not, but i do not deal with worktops every day..  i thought the sample would be similar to the final product....

mattgod69

Please see pic of the sample which i have since looked at somewhere else and it is virtually the same!

mattgod69

here are some pics of what i have got

mattgod69

we like the grey etc... it is just the really dirty looking bits and weird looking staining (which isn't staining) behind the sink....

mattgod69

Okell said:

Can we see a photo of what your worktop looks like?

I suspect they'll say it's natural variation in the material.  They'll probably also claim it's a unique and attractive idiosyncratic feature of the material..


as per @eskbanker, did you ask to see it to give prior approval?  Would they have allowed you to do so anyway?

No I didn't ask and I suspect they would have let me.... 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

OP I would seek the opinion of an expert as to whether the stone should be like this or not.

Perhaps post here

https://community.screwfix.com/forums/kitchen-fitters-talk.2010/

for opinions and advice on who would be qualified to give you a factual statement on whether the stone appearance is acceptable or not.

All I can say is the worktop doesn't appear to match the sample to my eyes (i.e my opinion) and as such it doesn't conform to the contract and you can reject. 

ComicGeek

Your photos look exactly like the Primordia photos on their website though https://www.caesarstone.co.uk/catalogue/4043-primordia/ - the sample, being a very small piece, really doesn't show the full colour range.

Their website states 'We recommend viewing full slabs at your stonemason prior to commencing fabrication' - we had Caeserstone Airy Concrete worktops fitted 2 years ago, and were never offered that opportunity by the installers when they came to measure up. We deliberately went for a worktop without significant variations in colour, after seeing a large slab of that particular one.

That small sample definitely doesn't show any of the colours and textures, so I would be asking if the sample has been labelled incorrectly. Really not a good sample if it is correct - I finally throw our samples away last week, but they were very accurate against our installed worktop.

mattgod69

ComicGeek said:

Your photos look exactly like the Primordia photos on their website though https://www.caesarstone.co.uk/catalogue/4043-primordia/ - the sample, being a very small piece, really doesn't show the full colour range.

Their website states 'We recommend viewing full slabs at your stonemason prior to commencing fabrication' - we had Caeserstone Airy Concrete worktops fitted 2 years ago, and were never offered that opportunity by the installers when they came to measure up. We deliberately went for a worktop without significant variations in colour, after seeing a large slab of that particular one.

That small sample definitely doesn't show any of the colours and textures, so I would be asking if the sample has been labelled incorrectly. Really not a good sample if it is correct - I finally throw our samples away last week, but they were very accurate against our installed worktop.

Thanks for comments... We were never given the opportunity to view either, although if i had requested i am sure this would not have been a problem.  We just assumed it would be like the sample (I know - big mistake).  I looked at another small sample elsewhere and it was exactly the same as the one i had viewed.  I am going to look at another installation where this worktop has been used, so lets see what that one looks like!